Electronic books (or 'e-books') are popular now in this age of electronic distribution of information. E-books come in two main flavours: Audio books (or 'talking books') and books that are comprised of viewable digital text files. Let's have a look at each of these varieties a little more closely.
Audio Books
These require a digital audio playback device (any home PC or laptop will suffice) and are most prevalent in the MP3 codec. Most everyone has heard of an MP3 player - in fact most households possess one. The name 'iPod' springs readily to mind, and in fact this device is eminently suitable for playback of e-books. Just select your e-book (probably uploaded from your computer to your playback device); plug in the headphones and listen to your favourite books at your leisure. If you have to take a break or a short pause, the listening device will remember your electronic bookmark so that you are able to resume listening to the story from where you left it, or rewind and fast-forward at will.
The only drawback to audio books is that they really demand your undivided attention as it's not easy to press the pause button, have a disassociated conversation, and then resume the story whilst remembering the gist of the last few lines of the storyline that you were engrossed in.
Digital Textual Books
There are many free readers for digital text e-books. There is also a vast library of public domain books; the best known of which is 'Project Gutenburg' where over 17,000 books can be found which are out of copyright. Text e-books can be viewed on essentially any computer and there are also dedicated devices available, although these are now somewhat outdated.
Both audio and text e-books are popular with Pocket PC users. 'Mobipocket' are a leading supplier in this field. Audio books are still sold in cassette format and are popular journey companions to motorists.
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